


Delicate

by TruthandLies



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Dancing in the Rain, F/F, Friends to Lovers, just breathe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-12 18:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15345885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TruthandLies/pseuds/TruthandLies
Summary: Evie has just one mission in this rain-shattered night: To get Mal to breathe.





	Delicate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JackEPeace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackEPeace/gifts).



> Written for pizza-is-my-business, who requested Malvie + delicate.

Moments with Mal are tangible.

They come to life, like drops of water shimmering in the moonlight. Delicate and clear, but glowing with ethereal silver. Windows to the enchanted heavens, shining silver with moon and stars.

The first time Evie kisses her best friend, it happens in the rain. Happens after Mal has rushed from the dorms, holding back tears. Happens when her mother, the lizard, has escaped, not to be found. 

Her mother, the lizard, who has never become human. 

Who has never learned to love her daughter, the girl with a dragon’s delicate heart.

“I’m sorry, dear one,” Fairy Godmother says, patting Mal’s hand. Even FG’s most potent magic can’t find Mal’s lizard-mother. “Sometimes, people just never learn to open their hearts.”

Mal’s heart crumbles within her eyes, and she blinks back tears. “I’m just gonna…” She snatches her jacket from the coat rack and rushes out into the hall, ignoring Evie’s cries to wait, to stop, to let her help.

Shattered heartbeats later, and Evie rushes out into the hall after her best friend.

But Mal is a dark fairy. And dark fairies are fast. Especially those who’ve learned to conceal themselves in worlds brutal and wicked.

And even best friends, who have learned the secrets of these brutal, wicked worlds, who have learned to slink through shadows of pirate ships and bend around corners to escape rival gangs, sometimes have difficulty tracking the delicate, fleeting footsteps of a girl both broken and all-too-strong.

Evie rushes through the halls, the sounds of an outside storm pounding through her ears. But she fails to find Mal in the bathroom and the common room and even the art room.

When she fails to find Mal in the cafeteria, when she finds only Carlos and Jay building the leaning-tower-of-mint-chip-ice-cream-with-cherries-and-rainbow-sprinkles-and-hot-fudge, she chokes back a frustrated sob. 

Carlos drops his spoon. “Evie?”

Jay jumps from his chair. “Eves? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Evie presses her lips together. To stop their trembling. To hide how upset she is. _Best friends don’t get this upset. Do they?_

Are their hearts supposed to break when they glimpse the brokenness in their friend’s eyes? 

Or their insides go cold?

Or their instincts go live wire? Instincts to shield each other from any kind of danger? Any kind of pain?

_No._ Evie pinches her nose between thumb and forefinger. _This is more. So much more._

She needs to find Mal. Needs to let her know that there are other places besides mothers where she can seek love.

Jay trips closer. “Come on. Something’s clearly –”

Evie holds up her hand. A shield. She has no time for small talk. “Have either of you seen Mal?”

“No.” Carlos licks sticky green globs from his mouth. “I mean, not since goodness cl—”

Evie nods and backs away, slamming the door, leaving Carlos’ final word half-finished. Knocking back against the wall, she buries her face in her trembling hand. “Where are you, M?” Her whisper is half-growl.  
 _  
_She needs to find Mal before the brokenness in her eyes can fissure through her heart.

Rain splatters against a nearby window, stroking the glass with its liquid fingertips and leaving liquid trails.

And a trail of memory splashes pathways through Evie’s mind. A memory much less frantic.

_“C’mon, E.” Mal tugged Evie to her feet, away from a mess of tarnished fabric. Fabric that had torn beneath the needle of her sewing machine. “If you keep staring at that cloth, that little vein throbbing in your temple is going to burst.”_

_Evie gripped the top of her chair. “But I have to fix it. Maybe it can still be –”_

_“Nope.” Mal flipped the switch of the machine, stopping the needle mid-punch. “You’ve been staring at it for ten minutes now.” She threaded her arm through Evie’s, tugging her toward the door. “You’re making me jealous.”  
_  
 _Evie skidded to a stop, staring at Mal through eyes too-wide._ Jealous? __

_Mal winked, highlighting the golden specks dancing through her eyes. “Here. Put this on.” She slid Evie’s coat from the coat rack. “It’s raining.”_

_Evie was so lost in the word ‘jealous,’ so lost in catching glimpses of those golden specks – fairy glimmers of gold that only appeared when Mal was entranced by beauty or about to commit great acts of mischief – she forgot to ask why she needed a jacket indoors, or why Mal was leading her out of the dorms and into the rain-splattered night._

_But into the night they went, with its icy deluge of water._

_Evie shivered and groaned, stuttering on frozen breaths._

_“Just breathe, E.” Laughter waltzed from Mal’s lips. She released Evie’s arm to fling her own arms wide. Twirling, she splashed through puddles, kicking up rain, splashing them both with delicate droplets. “See? Rain makes everything better. Come on. Give it a try.”_

_She grabbed Evie’s hand, lacing their fingers. Twirling them both through the showers of rain in this world gone wild._

_And Evie’s breath rushed out in a gasp. Rushed out in these moments of Mal’s waltzing laughter, these moments of golden-specked eyes that, in this instance of mischief, had turned even more golden._

_These moments that brought Mal to life, showing a side of her not Isle-wild or wicked-fierce, but fun-loving and dragon-hearted-delicate._

_“Just let go.” Mal pumped Evie’s hand three times. A heartbeat’s pulse. “Let the world take over and be free.”_

_Evie grinned. And released a lungful of laughter. She tossed back her head and danced through the rain. Breathing fierce. Breathing free._

_Fierce and free._ In the present moment, outside the cafeteria-of-mint-chip-towers, Evie tosses her gaze toward the window, where fingers of rain beckon her to look outside. _Of course._ Because if Mal has gone anywhere, she’s gone to the rain – the place where her eyes glow gold and her heart soars fairy-free.  
 _  
_Evie’s hand shakes as she raises it to the cool glass. Her fingers tremble as she wipes away the condensation. And then her heart trembles, too.

There, a shadow in the night, stands Mal. A dark fairy broken. A girl longing for a mother who never learned to love.

But there are other ways to find love. Other ways to make a best friend’s eyes glow golden. Other ways to make her heart glow, too.  
 _  
_Without thought, Evie sprints from the building and out into the deluge, gasping when the rain pricks its chill fingers against her cheeks and neck, plastering her hair to her face.

But she doesn’t stop. She won’t ever stop. Not when it comes to Mal.

Droplets of water cascade in sheets, splashing the ground, striking Evie’s feet as she runs. She slips in a puddle and slides across the concrete. Gritting her teeth, she bows her head against the icy shower.

In this rainy night, she has only one mission. One task.

She needs to get Mal to breathe.

“Evie?” Mal’s voice is a shadow, lost in the darkness. Her lips are purpled, her eyes gleaming liquid and golden. “What –?”

“Care for a dance?” Evie holds out her hand. The words are puffs of breath and instinctual, coming from a place inside scrawled with forgotten fairy tales and half-finished lyrics of songs.

Mal stares at Evie’s outstretched hand, biting down on her shivering lip. She shakes her head in rhythm with her shoulders, which shake with pent-up sobs.

Evie’s heart splinters. “Here.” She takes Mal’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “It’s easy, M. All you have to do is let the world take over and be free. Just breathe.”

A sob escapes Mal’s lips. She bites down harder, but a second sob escapes, too. “I only wanted her to love me.” Her words are shattered pieces of broken glass.

Evie’s splintered heart shatters with them. Because Mal is saying so many things. _Am I really unlovable?_ and _What’s wrong with me?_ and _Will anyone ever love me?_

So Evie reaches up. And slides a drenched strand of purple behind Mal’s ear. “Your mom was so wrong.” She cradles Mal’s cheek. “And so lost. But you are loved, M.” She swallows the tightness from her throat. And breathes in deep. Breathes in rain. Breathes in Mal. “I love you.”

Mal sucks back a breath. And in so doing, releases her lip and her sobs. They scatter through the night, sounds of a girl both delicate and strong.

Sounds Evie captures with her lips, tasting them with her kiss. A kiss Mal shares, their lips sliding together in this instinctual dance.

Lost in their embrace, Evie pulls Mal into a rain-tempo rhythm, kissing her best friend until Mal’s sobs cease and she breathes. She breathes in the rain. She breathes in the world. She breathes in Evie’s name.

Evie leans their foreheads together. “You’ve always been loveable. Always.”

Mal stares into Evie’s eyes, her specks of gold ethereal in the silver moonlight. “You’ve always been loved back.” She pecks Evie’s lips with a delicate kiss.

Evie grins. Deepening the kiss. She dances with Mal through silver-moon puddles, breathing fierce and free.


End file.
